(Photo via SBNation.com)

Toward the end of the first round, the Rutgers WR – who was projected to be taken in the 2nd or 3rd round - received a call from someone pretending to be a member of the Cincinnati Bengals organization.

The caller told Sanu the Bengals were planning to take him with the 27th overall pick. Sanu and his family celebrated, and his agent even prematurely tweeted out the news, before learning that the Bengals had actually chosen Wisconsin OL Kevin Zeitler.  They had been pranked, and the call apparently came from a Rutgers student playing a misguided joke.

Ouch. So Sanu was forced to sit and wait.

After hearing the news, the Marvin Lewis and the Bengals reached out to console Sanu prior to the draft resuming on Friday. And when the bottom half of the third round rolled around, Cincinnati selected Sanu – for real this time – with the 83rd overall pick.

“Thank God,” when asked about his feelings about really joining the Bengals. “I got a voice mail with a 513 area code and then Coach Urban called me and I had the number in his phone and he asked me ‘Are you ready to be a Bengal for real this time?’ and I said of course, I’m ready to go.”

Sanu – who set a single-season Big East record with 115 receptions – said that he wouldn’t wish the previous 24 hours on anyone:

“I’m just glad it’s over and dreams came true this time.”

(Photo: NYDailyNews.com)

The period in question was 2002-2004, and now state and federal officials have opened up a wiretapping investigation on Loomis, to see if he violated any eavesdropping laws in the process.

For their part, and not surprisingly, the Saints vehemently deny these allegations. On Monday, Greg Bensel, Saints VP of Communications, had this to say on behalf of Loomis and the organization:

“This is 1,000 percent false. This is 1,000 percent inaccurate.”

Loomis himself flatly denied to the charges on Tuesday via an email sent out by the team:

“This report on ESPN is absolutely false. I have a monitor in front of me in my booth that provides the league issued stats for the game. I have a small TV with the network broadcast and I have an earpiece to listen to the WWL-AM radio (flagship broadcaster) game broadcast. To think I am sitting in there listening … and or doing something with the offensive and defensive play calls of the opposing teams makes this story and the unnamed sources that provided the false information that much more less credible … it just didn’t happen.”

Regardless of how this all shakes out, another scandal is not a good look for the Saints, whose image is already tarnished by the recent bounty scandal, nor Loomis, who is currently serving out an eight-game suspension for his part in that whole debacle.

Woof.  When it rains it pours in New Orleans (bad Katrina humor not intended).

(Photo: Pittsburgh Steelers via SI.com)

This bumblebee-esque monstrosity was apparently inspired by the original 1934 Pittsburgh Pirates, and was chosen “to show a unique part of Steelers’ history”:

“We wanted to use a jersey that we wore early in our history as we celebrate our 80th season,” Steelers’ President Art Rooney II said. “We have never used those jerseys since the 1934 season and I think our fans will be excited to see our players wear them in action this year.”

More uniform pics here, and after the jump. And while our initial reaction was horror, the more we look at it … yeah, they’re still pretty bad. There’s a reason these unis were left on the shelves for 80 years. And the socks aren’t helping.

Unfortunately for fashion aficionados everywhere, the Steelers will don the throwbacks for not one, but two home games this year.

Poor Isaac Redman was forced to model the outfit, apparently in a bathroom:

(Photo: Pittsburgh Steelers)

(Photo: Pittsburgh Steelers)

In it, Silver reveals that defensive coordinator Gregg Williams specifically directed his players to injure members of the 49ers prior to their post-season meeting in January, and made “hand gestures” signalling that he would pay money to whoever took out QB Alex Smith.  

(Photo: Matthew Sharpe/Getty Images via BleacherReport)

Silver got the audio from filmmaker Sean Pamphilon of the United States of Football, who had access to Saints team functions for much of the 2011 season while working on a documentary. The speech in question came during a defensive team meeting the night before the Jan. 15 playoff game, in which Williams delivers a profanity-laced tirade intended to inspire his troops to battle. It would be the Saints last game of the season, and Williams would be fired two days later.

Perhaps most damaging to the Saints cause is the timing of Williams’ speech, which would have come well after the NFL had alerted the Saints that they were looking into the bounty program, and right after the league re-opened the investigation and specifically directed owner Tom Benson and Loomis to put a stop to it. The 49ers game was just two weeks later, and while you can’t actually hear the hand gestures, Pahmphilon says he believes “there’s no doubt at all” that Williams put a bounty on Smith in the meeting. And if that’s the case, it means that Loomis and Payton – who were not present at the meeting – clearly didn’t take enough action in policing their own staff.

UPDATE: The Saints are already trying to paint Williams as a “rogue” coach on his way out the door, who acted in defiance of his superiors. It’s clear that Payton and Loomis are going to set Williams up as the fall guy in an effort to lessen their own punishments, but we’ll see how much water that holds with Roger Goodell.

The relevant audio from Williams speech is below, but here are a few of the more notable gems:

QUOTES AND AUDIO AFTER THE JUMP

ON ALEX SMITH

‘We hit [expletive] Smith right there’ – then he points under his chin [and continues] – ‘remember me.’ Then he rubs his thumb against his index and middle fingers – the cash sign – and says, ‘I got the first one. I got the first one. Go get it. Go lay that [expletive] out.’

ON FRANK GORE

“We’ve got to do everything in the world to make sure we kill Frank Gore’s head,” Williams told the players. “We want him running sideways. We want his head sideways.”

ON KYLE WILLIAMS

“We need to find out in the first two series of the game, the little wide receiver, No. 10, about his concussion,” Williams said to the Saints’ defenders. “We need to [expletive] put a lick on him, move him to decide. He needs to decide.”

ON MICHAEL CRABTREE

“We need to decide whether Crabtree wants to be a fake-ass prima donna or he wants to be a tough guy … We need to find that out, and he becomes human when you (expletive) take out that outside ACL.”

And that, my friends, would appear to be the smoking gun. As we’ve said all along, once all the information comes out, we’ll be shocked if Williams ever coaches again in the NFL.

(WARNING: NSFW FOR LANGUAGE)

(Photo: Nike)

There had been some concern among fans that Nike was going to redesign every team’s uniform to look like the Oregon Ducks, but in general the changes are barely perceptible.

The biggest change across the board is to the collar, where Nike added their “Flywire” design which supposedly helps keep the collar flat against the pads, and some teams have included a two-tone color scheme to go along with it.  There are some other updates to the construction, fit, fabric and color shadings that I’m sure are huge differences to the uni-geeks over at Nike, but nothing the average fan would really notice.

The fine folks at uni-watch.com have a detailed team-by-team breakdown of changes to the uniform, and you can VIEW UP-CLOSE PHOTOS OF ALL 32 NEW UNIFORMS HERE.

It turns out the Packers, Raiders, Eagles, Falcons and Panthers passed entirely on the opportunity to update their unis, essentially rejecting Nike’s proposed modifications. But the Seahawks decided to go for it, re-vamping their color scheme to include neon green and updating the helmet logo for a completely new look. You can check out more detailed photos of the Seahawks uniform at this gallery, but it’s not nearly as bad as some people are making it out to be (photo below).

(Photo: Nike via ESPN.com)

Lastly, if you’re really into uniforms, the Giants posted a neat video with equipment manager Joe Skiba giving an inside look at the changes to the team’s uniforms, including an infomercial-esque test of the materials’ waterproofing properties.

According to ProFootballTalk.com, the top-rated cornerback in the upcoming NFL draft – LSU’s Morris Claiborne – reportedly scored just a FOUR on his Wonderlic.  That’s right … a four. To give you an idea of just how bad that is, wunderkind Vince Young scored a six.  So Claiborne has now officially achieved the lowest score ever recorded.

UPDATE: Since Claiborne’s score was leaked, reports have come out suggesting that he suffers from a learning disability that likely affected his score. So perhaps the Wonderlic should not be viewed as a direct indication of Claiborne’s intelligence.

(Photo: Joe Robbins/Getty Images via BleacherReport)

Now, as we mentioned, a low Wonderlic score shouldn’t necessarily scare teams off, and there have been plenty of less-than-bright athletes who have had successful careers in the NFL. Last year’s top CB Patrick Peterson only scored a 9, and had a tremendous rookie campaign. Wide Receivers AJ Green (10) and Hakeem Nicks (11) aren’t exactly rocket scientists either, and have turned out alright.

While a quarterback or offensive lineman who does poorly on this test should definitely be a concern, positions like CB and WR – that are mainly based on instinct and reaction – are probably less impacted by a low Wonderlic. So this probably isn’t as big of a deal as some people are going to make it out to be for Claiborne.

Just two days after being arrested for burglary and drug possession, the former #2 overall pick was arrested for a second time in Montana early Monday. And once again, Leaf was busted for … you guessed it, burglary and drug possession.

(Photo: thehollywoodgossip.com)

All of this trouble stems from Leaf’s long-running addiction to painkillers, which got him in trouble in 2008 while an assistant coach at West Texas A&M, ultimately leading to a 2010 drug and burglary indictment.

On Friday, Leaf was brought down in Montana for similar transgressions “after a month-long investigation that culminated with the former NFL quarterback breaking into an acquaintance’s home to steal prescription pain medication”.

But Leaf wasn’t done there … ater posting bail, Ryan apparently decided that he still needed his fix and tried to do the exact same thing, because now he’s facing yet another set of charges for burglary, theft and possession. Details of this latest arrest have yet to be released (a hearing is scheduled for later today) but thanks to the probation violation, Leaf won’t be making bail this time around, in case he wants to try this caper again.

As much as we love a good draft bust/train wreck story, the Leaf saga passed amusing a long time ago, and is now just plain sad.

GUEST COMMENTARY FROM A JETS FAN

Ok, now that I have had time to take it all in … I am still a little confused. I just don’t get it.

Mind you, I have been a Jets fan all my life, and have continually been baffled by what the team does both in the off season and on the field. Being a Jets fan is always like living on a roller coaster of emotions. Something will happen to spark hope, a glimmer of greatness if you will (two consecutive AFC championship appearances). But then reality sinks back in and we end up with the same ol’ Jets! I thought that all of our off-season moves were going pretty well — signing valuable players and filling needed positions at safety and back up QB and then … BAM. Tebow time.

(Photo: Businessinsider.com)

As a displaced Jets fan living in Denver, this was like the nausea that arrives after you have been swiftly kicked square in the nuts. It sucked. But theres nothing I can do so I am trying to see the value and not try to understand the “why”. One thought I just can’t shake out of my head is that Woody made the decision to fill seats and sell jerseys. I went to a few home games in New Jersey last year and the stadium was maybe three-quarters full. I know that Tannembaum and Rex are really pushing to “win now”, as it’s likely that their fates are in line with the success of this season, but picking up Tim Tebow doesn’t really seem like the team’s golden ticket.

That being said, maybe that was never the Jets intent. Maybe they just saw an opportunity to bring value to the team at little perceived cost. With the media surrounding Tebow and New York being what it is, maybe we are just blowing this whole thing way out of proportion. If the Jets made this move to get back, say, Brad Smith, no one would be making such a huge fuss about it. Brad was a QB in college and took over 10 snaps in wildcat formation in many games for the Jets. The big difference was his fit on special teams and in other positions. If Tebow is really willing to do what ever it takes to help the team like he said in his press conference he could prove to be very valuable for the Jets.

The major thing that is keeping me from jumping on the Tebow band wagon is the 4th and 6th round pick we traded away. Will the looks the Jets get with Tebow, combined with his unknown in special teams, be better than the other positions we could have filled in those spots? How bout some offensive linemen? Some pass-rushers perhaps? I guess the draft and the season are the only ways to tell, and it never does anyone any good to play the what-if game. He’s here, he’s a Jet, and now we can just wait and see.

The positive side of all of this craziness is it allows the Jets to be very active filling the roster and preparing for the draft without much analyzation outside of Tebowmania. We had a lot of WTF moments at the end last year that people aren’t really talking about too much. Other than obvious tensions in the locker room, the team performed poorly from the ground up. While everyone is looking at what Tim Tebow will do, the Jets can and should focus on fixing the major problems that plagued them last year.

Adding another great athlete and competitor to your team should come to any fan as a positive, but for some reason I still don’t get that feeling from this move. I am open-minded, and know that there are worse things that could have happened because Tim is not going to have baby momma drama or get locked up for a DUI or call out other players anonymously in the press.

I just want to have the team I support with all my being be good at playing regular football. Not surprise antics and wacky formations, ground and pound and play action for long touchdowns. Is that too much to ask?!?!?

Sincerely,

The Ever-Disgruntled Jets Fan
“I bleed green and white”

(Photo: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images via BleacherReport.com)

The New York Jets introduced Tim Tebow as their backup quarterback today, which means that the circus has officially rolled into town for Rex Ryan & Co.

The anonymous player quotes and speculation as to whether Tebow will compete for starting time with the newly re-upped Mark Sanchez have already begun, and we’re months away from the start of training camp.  Just wait until Jets nation gets a real taste of Tebowmania …

For his part, let’s just say that Tebow is “excited” to be a Jet.  In fact, let’s let Timmy say it … a total of 44 times during his 30-minute session with the media:

VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP

[H/T Buzzfeed]

In the words of Bart Scott , I genuinely CAN’T WAIT to hear Rex Ryan explain their thinking on this one. Let the Big Apple circus commence!!!

______________________

Before all you Jets fans out there go and purchase your new Tim Tebow jerseys, you might want to wait for the deal for the Broncos QB to actually be finalized.

(Photo: terezowens.com)

It seems that the trade between the Jets and Broncos that would send Tebow (and a 7th round pick) to New York in exchange for a 4th and 6th round pick has hit a snag.

And despite the fact that the Jets announced the deal on their Twitter page (which is still up at the time of this posting), they apparently didn’t really read Tebow’s contract before agreeing to the terms. And now they’re contesting a clause that would require NY to pay back $5 million in advance salaries from his rookie contract in Denver.

If this deal doesn’t end up going through, the Jets are going to end up looking really, really stupid.

I mean, did GM Mike Tannenbaum just get so geeked up about landing Tebow that he didn’t bother to read the fine print on the man’s contract? The Broncos – who even with Twitter-happy John Elway at the helm, have made no official announcement, by the way - feel as though the Jets need to hold up their commitment to the deal, since it’s their own fault they didn’t pay closer attention before signing off on it.

But apparently, the trade was never registered with the league, and was therefore never valid. So it’s all pretty much up in the air for now, with teams like Jacksonville re-entering the fray for Tebow’s services.

And even if the deal with the Jets does go through in the end, we have a feeling Tebowmania is not going to play very well in New York, what with the Ryan-Sanchez circus already in full effect … so this whole situation really feels like a lose-lose for the Jets.